Jacob Mchangama
Senior Fellow
Fellows Team
Jacob Mchangama is the founder and CEO of the Copenhagen based think tank Justitia. Jacob has written extensively on free speech including in the Economist, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy and The Wall Street Journal as well as peer-reviewed journals. He is the producer and narrator of the podcast “Clear and Present” Danger: A History of Free Speech” and author of the critically acclaimed book “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media” published by Basic Books in 2022.
Recent Writings
- Don’t be too tempted by Europe’s plan to fix social media,
- Censorship won’t cure disinformation (featuring Jacob Mchangama and Nadine Strossen): Part 17 of answers to arguments against free speech,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 41 – Free Speech and Racial Justice: Friends or Foes?,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast - Special Edition – Suzanne Nossel,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Special Edition – Daphne Keller and Kate Klonick,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast - Special Edition - Monika Bickert,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 40 – The Age of Human Rights: Tragedy and Triumph,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 39: The Totalitarian Temptation, Part II – Der Untergang,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 38: The Totalitarian Temptation – Part I,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 37: Expert Opinion – The history of mass surveillance, with Andreas Marklund,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 36: Expert opinion – Thomas Healy on how Oliver Wendell Holmes changed the history of free speech in America,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 35: White Man’s Burden: Empire, Liberalism, and Censorship,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 34: The Age of Reaction: The fall and rise of free speech in 19th century Europe,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast: UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye (Special Edition),
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 33: Counter-revolution,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 32: Policing opinion in the French Revolution with Charles Walton,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 31: The Old Regime,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 30: Northern Lights, The Scandinavian Press Freedom Breakthrough,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 29: The Philosopher King - Enlightened Despotism, part 2, Prussia,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 28: Writing on human skin – enlightened despotism, part I, Russia,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 27: How Enlightening,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 26: Freedom Forum special with Megha Rajagopalan and Yuan Yang,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 25: Oslo Freedom Forum special with Larry Diamond,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 24: Expert Opinion – Stephen Solomon Part 2 – The Sedition Act,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 23: Expert Opinion – Stephen Solomon,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 22: Fighting Words – Free Speech in 18th Century America, Part II,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 21: The ‘Bulwark of Liberty’ – Free Speech in 18th Century America, Part I,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 20: The Seeds of Enlightenment,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 19: Steven Nadler on Spinoza’s 'book forged in hell' and the right to 'think what you like and say what you think',
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 18: Colonial dissent: blasphemy, libel, and tolerance in 17th century America,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 17: Global Inquisition,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 16: Expert opinion – Michael Shermer,
- Clear and Present Danger Podcast — Episode 15: Paper-bullets and the forgotten martyrs of radical free speech,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast — episode 14: ‘Universal Peace’: Religious tolerance in the Mughal empire,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast — Episode 13: Expert opinion – Jonathan Haidt,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – Episode 12: Expert Opinion – Teresa Bejan,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – The great disruption: Part 2,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – The great disruption: Part I, the printing press and the viral Reformation,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 9: Expert opinion, Christine Caldwell Ames,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 8: The hounds of God - medieval heretics and inquisitors,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 7: Expert opinion, Peter Adamson,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast — episode 6: The not-so-Dark Ages, medieval intellectuals, and freethinkers,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 5: The Caliphate,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 4: Expert opinion, Paul Cartledge,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast — episode 3: The Age of Persecution,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 2: Liberty or license?,
- Clear and Present Danger podcast – episode 1: Who wishes to speak?,
- Announcing ‘Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech’,
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